Underneath The Moonlight
by ComingAndGoingByBubble
Summary: It wasn't supposed to be like this. They looked ridiculous together. Their relationship was the classic work cliche: the frightening boss and the beautiful employee/cabaret singer. But nothing could keep them apart and nothing ever would. Gelphie.


In the dark room, that golden hair shone like the moon against the backdrop of a night-sky. Hazy cigarette smoke swirled in the air like a fog. With the microphone positioned by her crimson stained lips, her pale hands running through her hair to the song she was singing to, her tiny black sequined costume adorning her body, all eyes were on her.

Every word that dripped from her honey sweet voice lingered in the air as it mixed with the band's instruments, an array of trumpets and drums, and any other musical device that they had.

She had the entire club in the palm of her hand and this was only her first song.

The alcohol was being served steadily but no one seemed to be paying any attention to their drinks, only on the woman who was singing.

Elphaba sat in the back, hidden in the shadows in the corner, not too close to her patrons but close enough that she could still see the woman performing up front. She had to admit, the blonde was good, no, that was an understatement. The blonde was _fantastic_ , she had the potential to become a real star if given the chance. She had only been here a few months but had quickly proved herself to Elphaba (her boss) and to her customers.

As she crooned to whatever song the band was playing, Elphaba wasn't really paying attention to the ballad, the blonde looked up at her darkened audience, their faces masked by the bright lights in her face and the misty shadows all around, and smiled slyly as if she knew exactly what she was doing to them. The song dwindled down ever so slowly, and with the last note lingering in the air she winked, a flash of sapphire blue, towards the crowd vivaciously, flirtatiously and took her bow as if she had been born to be on stage.

Men leapt to their feet in a roar, while women quietly grumbled in their seats and gave reluctant applause, only knowing that their men were clapping because of their lust for the singer.

Elphaba clapped as well, genuinely giving praise to the singer. She felt a weird sense of pride, this was her club, infamously named The Emerald Jewel, and these were her singers.

"What's her name?" she heard one of her costumers call out in an open ended question meant for anyone.

A moment passed before anyone gave him a clear answer. No one seemed to really know.

Finally Elphaba spoke up, dutifully as any manager would.

"Glinda," Elphaba answered, "her name is Glinda."

The patron, turned around, "Thanks," and got out his wallet from his pocket, looking eager.

Elphaba gritted her teeth together. She contemplated not saying anything but decided against it.

She walked up to her patron, a young man who was obviously hoping to get lucky tonight, and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Listen, I don't want any trouble here, you understand? I'm the owner of this club and I can have you arrested if you harass any of my singers," she warned.

The young man looked taken aback. He slowly slid his wallet back into his pocket, looking strongly disappointed.

She overheard him mutter to a buddy of his, something to the effect of "If you're gonna have such gorgeous girls up there, can't I at least have my fun with them if I pay... all tease and none of the action..."

Normally, as the owner, she would have held her tongue. She was, after all, supposed to turn the other cheek to what the girls did after hours. But this boiled under her skin something thick. She felt enraged at that comment, though that sort of thing was said almost every night about Glinda. Costumers adored her, demanded for her, requested her to sing every night (as well as other things, but Elphaba, as the owner, was supposed to look the opposite way to such things). She had easily become the favorite girl working there, despite her newcomer status.

"If you're looking for that type of an establishment, there's about twenty brothels down the street you can treat yourself to," she remarked to him sharply. "My girls are not prostitutes. End of story."

The man said nothing more but unintelligible mutters. He walked away, and Elphaba crossed her arms feeling satisfied. She knew it was not her place to interfere with whatever other income the girls got, however disagreeable the actions to get it were (in her mind), but she couldn't help it. This was her club, she had to protect its image and her own reputation.

When Elphaba looked back up at the stage, after a few moments of reflection, Glinda was gone and the ensemble dancers were doing their usual routine, full flashy outfits and all.

The brunette disappeared back stage to go talk to the blonde, mostly because she had to give the girl her paycheck and to remind her that her next song was coming up. Elphaba made her way through the slim hallway, passing each of her employees along the way, some of them smoking, some of them reading or trying to change into their costumes in the middle of the hallway.

She could hear their whisperings as she walked by them, their talk of her unusual skin color. It was no secret to anyone who worked there that Elphaba was green, her skin the color of emeralds, hence the name of the club. But still, the girls always had to say something about it whenever they saw her.

It didn't bother Elphaba, she just pressed her lips and moved on. Her skin color had nothing to do with the way she ran her business and her club was the only thing that mattered to her.

She approached Glinda's dressing room, and saw that the door was slightly ajar. She thought she heard voices too. She paused for just a second, before deciding to go in.

The scene before her made her stop cold in her tracks. It was that man, the one she had yelled at earlier, cornering who she could only guess to be Glinda in front of her vanity, holding up his wad of cash.

"How much, sweetheart? Come on, just for one night?"

Before Glinda had the chance to retort, Elphaba stepped in.

"What did I tell you about harassing my singers?" she snapped at him, her eyes flashing in anger.

He turned around and saw her there. He sighed heavily and rolled his eyes at her question.

"Oz, why don't you just let me do as I please?" he complained, "I am the customer after all, and you can't deny me what I came here for, especially if I pay for it," he slurred a bit.

"Get. Out," hissed Elphaba, gesturing towards the door, "Or I will call the Gale Force to throw you out of here."

He just simply laughed, "I am part of the Gale Force, my men won't turn on me," he looked back at Glinda, "So what do you say, darling, just one night," he waved more cash in her face.

Glinda pushed the money away.

"I'm not available tonight," she said sharply; it was a lie and he saw right through it.

"Come on, sweetheart, you're gorgeous, I'll pay you extra..."

Elphaba then had decided that enough was enough. She stormed over to the man, and ripped him away from Glinda, tearing his sleeve in the process.

"Leave her alone," she demanded with a death glare.

The man looked at her, baffled that a woman would speak to her in such a manner.

"You're making a big mistake by doing this. I'm a loyal customer. If people find out about this, your business will suffer, I'll make sure of it!"

"And I'll make sure that you're never seen in my club again," promised Elphaba.

He then left, staggering out of the room with mutters of her club's ruin on his breath.

Once he was gone, Elphaba relaxed and glanced at the blonde.

"Are you alright?" she asked softly.

The blonde looked up at her, a bit startled. She chewed at the nails of her fingers nervously.

"You didn't have to do that, you know," the blonde pointed out, not angrily, but appreciatively. Her eyes shone with gratitude.

Elphaba said nothing, but she shook her head.

"My employees are my responsibility. It's my job to keep you safe... and besides sometimes it's fun being the mean, scary green bitch that frightens everyone away," Elphaba remarked with a smile.

Glinda looked at her seriously, "You're not a bitch, Elphaba. Thank you again for helping me out with him... most people wouldn't have even bothered..." she trailed off, but gave her boss a shaky smile.

"You let me know if he bothers you again," Elphaba said, pointing a finger at the blonde, "And I'll take care of it."

Glinda nodded sharply.

Feeling satisfied, Elphaba turned to leave and head out to close up the club. It was half past three in the morning, and she closed at four. The last performances were serenading throughout the building.

"Oh, wait I almost forgot!" Elphaba turned around, and pulled out Glinda's check, "I was on my way to give this to you."

Glinda took the check, which was sealed in an envelope, and held it in her hand by her side.

"Thank you."

Elphaba looked back at her, a faint smile on her face.

"Don't worry about it."

She paused at the door.

"I can get one of the other girls to cover your next song for you if you don't feel up to it?" she offered softly to the blonde.

But Glinda shook her head, "No, no I can do it. I'll just be a minute."

Elphaba couldn't hide her surprise. The blonde was stronger than she looked.

"Alright," said Elphaba a bit bewildered, but she let it go and shut the door to the dressing room.

* * *

Glinda showed up on stage right on cue for her last number, which was the very last act of the night. The blonde was all smiles and seductive winks and Elphaba was more than floored. It was as if Glinda had gone a complete transformation between the real "Glinda" and this one that was on the stage.

Granted, Elphaba didn't know Glinda very well, in fact she didn't know any of her girls really well. She had spent the last few months burying herself in paperwork and advertising for the club that she had just kind of hired singers based on other people's recommendations and suggestions.

She hadn't been the best boss as of late. Truthfully, she hadn't been the best person as of lately.

Tough times had hit her family hard back in Munchkinland and all of her attention and focus had been on them. It had been a mix of family and making money and she had employed people who had promised to make her money.

The roar of the crowd broke her thoughts. She looked up to find her girls and guys bowing, catching roses from the audience, waving enthusiastically.

People started to clear out, pack by pack, until the place was eerily empty. The lights were still shining on the stage but Elphaba shut them off one by one. Her employees were just about all gone, but she stuck around just in case.

Finally she headed out the front door, holding her key in her hand. The leftover paperwork she had to do was stuffed in her bag. She mentally went over everything that she had brought and made sure that she didn't forget anything.

Then she locked up the club, and glanced upwards at the sign above. The green light that was usually emitting from it was gone, for she had shut off all of the lights but the words could still be read.

The Emerald Jewel.

She felt a rush of accomplishment well up inside of her. Her club, though still in its infancy (it had been only almost a year now) was thriving and she was the one at its helm.

Her sister would have been proud of her. At the thought of her sibling, a bittersweet smile graced Elphaba's lips and she found herself immersed in her thoughts. She started walking, though her brain did not realize it.

As she turned to head for her apartment, she ended up crashing into someone who obviously was not looking where they were going either.

As they both got up from the dusty, almost deserted pavement, Elphaba couldn't have been more surprised.

Blonde hair and blue eyes greeted her.

"Glinda?"

 **I've wanted to write this story for a while and now with summer coming I'll actually have time to do so. :) let me know what you all think.**

 **Bubble**


End file.
